Year 2 Final Report

eP

ort

folio

ePortfolio Executive Summary 2006-2007

PROFESSIONAL

PREPARATION

ACADEMIC

COURSEWORK

TECHNOLOGICAL

APPLICATIONS

Arts & Administration Program | School of Architecture & Allied Arts | UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

Prepared by Dr. Lori Hager

June 2007

ePortfolio Executive Summary 2005-2007 Created by Dr. Lori Hager June 13, 2007 Page 2 of 13

ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 3

Project Description 3

Vision at end of Year One 4

Goals for Year Two 4

Summary of Year Two 5

Implementation Timeline, Year Two 5

Year Three Goals 6

Year Three Sustainability Plan 6

Proposed Year Three Timeline 7

Interdisciplinary ePortfolio Initiative 9

AAA PODS/ePortfolio Workshops 9

Tutor and Lab Assessment Summary 9

Tutor and Lab Assessment Figures 10

Lab Hour Topics 10

Lab Hour Figure 11

Project Participants 11

Images from 2007 ePortfolios 13



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

ePortfolios enhances linkages between professional preparation, academic

coursework, and technological applications by supporting students, courses, and

project advancement through tutoring, project evaluation, and inter-

departmental collaboration.

ePortfolios is a three-year initiative supported through a grant by the University of

Oregon Education Technology Committee. Directed by Dr. Lori Hager, Assistant

Professor in the Arts and Administration, ePortfolios connects professional development

with Information Design and Multimedia. In the Arts and Administration Program,

graduate students create and post their ePortfolios at the end of their first year, which

they manage throughout their graduate studies.

The Ed Tech-supported initiative expands ePortfolios to other AAA departments, offering

workshops and tutors to undergraduate and graduate students to design, develop, and

publish their ePortfolios in support of internships, research, and career advancement.

We received funding from the Ed Tech committee as a multi-year project. At the end

of Year One, we submitted extensive program evaluation materials, in addition to the

re-application materials requested by the Educational Technology Committee.

In response to the Ed Tech Committee’s request, and in line with our Year Two goals, we

focused on establishing vehicles for extending ePortfolios throughout AAA; began

conversations with School of Journalism and the College of Education CATE about

partnerships across campus in ePortfolio applications, continued to research

applications for ePortfolios in other colleges and universities, and began the

development phase for a comprehensive ePortfolio website and database. We have

been in an extensive research and development phase for a comprehensive website

and database that will function in three ways: full public student professional ePortfolios,

hybrid public/private space that is course-based where students and faculty post and

archive course projects, is searchable, and which has project collaboration functions;

and a fully private site to track student learning throughout their academic career.

Our vision and proposal is based on the best models currently available, and is

designed to address the unique composition of the professional schools involved. We

have put into place a system that can be expanded upon to meet the deliverables of

each of these goal sets.

We are advocating for two things during Year Three: the continuation of funding for the

AAA-level pilot project. Since this project was designed as a three-year pilot, it is critical

that the level of funding for Year Three be maintained so that we can accomplish what

we set out to do. A significant degree of momentum has been generated through our

efforts, and the efforts of our interdisciplinary partners in Journalism and Education. This

project design is based on the best available models for ePortfolios in professional

schools and colleges, and extends the model in a comprehensive and flexible design.


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 Secondly, we would like to offer to the campus a year-long Interdisciplinary ePortfolio

Initiative composed of School of Journalism, College of Education, and AAA to share

resources across our schools for the purposes of engaging with the larger campus

community concerning ePortfolio applications.

During the first term implementation in 2005-2006, we directly assisted 40-45 students to

create and post their ePortfolios on ePortfolio.uoregon.edu. ePortfolio tutors assisted

students in the Millrace Computer Lab for a total of 144 tutoring sessions, averaging 2

hours duration, in Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, FTP, graphic design and

digital editing. We began with one faculty and one support staff from Media Services,

and expanded to include 2 undergraduate students, 1 graduate student, 1 adjunct

instructor, 1 additional AAA faculty, the AAA PODS director, and developing

partnerships with additional AAA departments and faculty, as well as programs across

campus. We deployed the project website, ePortfolio.uoregon.edu.

During Year Two, we will have assisted 45 students to create and post their ePortfolios,

and 80 students to post their projects on the project gallery space, for approximately

125 students from across AAA in the project.

VISION AT THE END OF YEAR ONE FOR YEAR TWO (from end of Year 1 report to Ed Tech):

“We are currently in conversation with PODS (Professional Outreach and

Development for Students), the Architecture Program, Digital Arts, the College of

Education, and the School of Journalism to further connections with ePortfolios.

We will strengthen our connections with the AAA PODS, and expect that by the

third year, ePortfolios and PODS will share webspace and resources. The

Architecture Program is interested in utilizing the project to assist students to

create and post ePortfolios, and we expect to continue to expand next year

throughout AAA departments. We will begin conversations with other universities

piloting ePortfolios across the country and with arts organizations to build

capacity and assess our project website. We expect to increase the visibility of

the student ePortfolios during fall quarter, when we re-design the website and

create a database. Conversations about cross-disciplinary collaborations with

Education and Journalism, and with Media Services, have just begun, and reveal

the high demand that ePortfolios have for students and faculty across academic

disciplines. I believe that next year will be a very exciting year for the

development of ePortfolio applications on the University of Oregon campus.”

GOALS FOR YEAR TWO

Year Two Goals:

• Mentor additional faculty in the development and use of ePortfolios.

• Continue workshops and trainings in design and applications specific to

ePortfolios.

• Expand ePortfolios applications to other graduate student courses.



SUMMARY OF YEAR TWO

First, we wanted to focus this year on identifying an effective vehicle to disseminate

ePortfolios throughout AAA. We were fairly confident in the system and organizational

structure we had established, but needed to find ways to meet the needs of the

interdisciplinary school. So, we began an intensive research and development phase

for developing a platform and system flexible and responsive to the different

disciplinary standards in a school that houses such diverse programs as Arts

Administration, Architecture and Digital Arts. We began conversations with web

developers across campus, and in December 06 determined to work with SSIL to

develop our multi-functional ePortfolio website. Ultimately, we were only successful with

one level of the development process, and this was the Architecture project gallery for

Nancy Cheng’s ARCH 384 site. At the same time, Andre Chinn was piloting PLONE in

the School of Journalism, and as a result of conversations with the ad hoc group, we

determined that this open source content management system would be better suited

to the multi-functional and flexible system that we conceived. This research and

development process is the basis for what we have proposed for Year Three.

Secondly, we ascertained the best delivery mechanism for ePortfolio was through AAA

PODS (Professional Outreach and Development for Students), rather than through

identifying faculty in individual departments and programs. Toward this end, we

continued planning with PODS on delivering workshops in ePortfolio development,

sharing resources, and aligning our program strengths and goals. With PODS, we

presented ePortfolios at the Spring AAA Career Fair and Board of Visitors, to a very

favorable review. Additionally, we again offered ePortfolio development workshops to

AAA students during Spring term, which reaches students throughout AAA. ePortfolio

development continued in AAD, and began in Architecture.

IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE, YEAR TWO

Fall, 2006

•One additional AAA faculty added to project from Architecture (Nancy Cheng)

•PODS, Kassia Dellabough, added formally to the project

•ePortfolio tutoring continues

•Evaluation continues

•Students enroll in Advanced Information Design and Presentation (AAD 585).

•Web R&D Begun

•Campus-wide ePortfolio ad hoc group begins

•AAD students enroll in Internship II and present their ePortfolios

Winter, 2007

•ePortfolio tutoring continues

•Web R & D with SSIL begins

•AAD students enroll in Internship I (AAD 604), and begin to develop ePortfolio

content materials

•Campus-wide ePortfolio ad hoc group continues

•Planning for PODS workshops

•Planning for Career Fair and BOV


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 Spring 2007

Project Planning for Year Three

EPortfolio presentation at the campus IT Symposium

Students enroll in Internet Media (AAD 585) and develop ePortfolio websites.

Student and GTF support continues.

PODS ePortfolio intensive workshops offered

Additional AAA students added to ePortfolio

Interactive ePortfolio presentation at AAA Career Fair

Met with Columbia College, Chicago, ePortfolio group

Proposal for interdisciplinary ePortfolio initiative, 2007-2008 (see accompanying

material)

Planning for campus-wide and international communication and development

We met and exceeded each of the goals stated above within AAD and AAA, and are

extending ePortfolios to other departments on campus, such as the School of

Journalism and the College of Education.

YEAR THREE GOALS (from pilot project proposal):

•Continue to expand AAA departments involved, and other schools on campus.

•Increase visibility of ePortfolios through conference presentations and

workshops.

•Explore feasibility of expanding ePortfolios to include undergraduate fine and

performing arts students and faculty.

Focus: Platform for ePortfolio (web development); Organizational system (PODS);

Interdisciplinarity (ad-hoc group)

Vision: ePortfolios enhances connections with the professional communities, alumni and

families through a fully public site that demonstrates the best student work.

YEAR THREE SUSTAINABILITY PLAN

We have two primary goals for Year Three relative to sustainability:

1. Website development that allows students to create and manage ePortfolios,

provides a searchable database, and which includes a project gallery for each

department/program.

2. Partner with PODS to offer administrative support and increase ePortfolio

workshops and ePortfolio development for students throughout AAA.

Goal 1: Our immediate goal is to pilot PLONE, an open source content management

system successfully piloted and tested by the School of Journalism for their ePortfolio

application, as the platform for the ePortfolio project. Initially, we will develop two

functional levels, the fully public professional portfolio and hybrid/group collaboration

and project/course gallery space. This will allow us to include an authentication

function so that students can create and manage their ePortfolios and post them to the

dedicated server, and allow students to maintain their ePortfolios for a specified


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 amount of time after graduation. Each department will be provided with both

functionalities in a department/school page, which allows them to develop their

functionality, as the need arises. The development of this website is essential in order for

this project to have the capability of reaching every student in AAA, and of creating a

platform for faculty and students to share, create, and house course projects in a

searchable gallery space.

Goal 2: Additionally, an enhanced partnership with PODS, with its focus on alumni

relations, and peer review through the Board of Visitors, as well as an administrative

support structure, will be essential for ePortfolios sustainability

Goal 3: We are submitting a proposal to Don Harris for an Interdisciplinary ePortfolio

Initiative between AAA, School of Journalism, and College of Ed/CATE. (see attached).

If supported, this provides a larger sustainability structure for ePortfolios in the long term.

However, the AAA infrastructure and resources requested in this proposal are a critical

next step in order to prepare for that eventuality, and ensure that the project continues

and benefits the most students and faculty possible.

PROPOSED YEAR THREE TIMELINE

Summer, 07

•Eric Schiff acts as Project Manager on the web development and design of

ePortfolios (see attached). Andre Chinn has agreed to act as consultant to us

for utilizing PLONE as the platform for the website. Ed Parker and Eric Schiff (with

additional student support, if necessary) work throughout July to finish the basic

structure of the site in preparation for fall.

•ePortfolios co-sponsors the July 9 visit of Helen Barrett, the foremost authority on

ePortfolios in the United States, to the UO campus.

Fall, 07

•Planning for PODS ePortfolio workshops to be offered Winter and Spring

quarters.

•Advising students on ePortfolio tracks (see below)

•Marketing for ePortfolio and for workshops

•AAD students incorporate Internships into ePortfolios and present their

ePortfolios to the learning community.

•ePortfolio tutors provide one-on-workshops to AAD students, and AAA students

who are on ePortfolio Track 3 (see below)

•Students from interdisciplinary initiative take tools classes in preparation for

ePortfolio workshops

•Eric Schiff monitors website and development, and participates in instructional

sessions for departments/programs to activate/utilize ePortfolio site functions

(hybrid/project gallery, standards, etc)

•ePortfolio Advisory Committee begins meeting


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 ePortfolio Fall 2007 presentations

The following presentations have been planned to disseminate and

communicate our ePortfolio efforts both on campus and internationally.

Fall, 07 - Joint presentations to the School of Journalism, College of Education,

and School of Architecture and Allied Arts at fall school-wide faculty meeting.

Andre Chinn, Jonathon Richter and I will be presenting jointly at each other’s

college and schools on our efforts in ePortfolios, and future vision.

October, 07 - Presentation submission for the international ePortfolio conference

(Eifel), in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on ePortfolios and Higher Education in the

United States. The theme of the 5th international ePortfolio conference is

“Employability and Lifelong Learning in the Knowledge Society” – a topic

particularly apt to our efforts here at UO.

November, 07 -Faculty workshop for TEP on campus ePortfolios,

•Additionally, we will be pursuing an article for UO IT Connections

•Jonathon Richter and Lori Hager will submit jointly authored paper for

publication.

Winter, 08

•AAA PODS/ePortfolio workshops (see below for details)

Our multi-year assessment revealed that the best system for delivering ePortfolios

throughout AAA outside of the course structure is through AAA-level self-support

courses that guide students through the tools development process, and in

posting their ePortfolios. Consequently, we support PODS’ request to the Dean’s

office for an increase in the PODS staff budget to include administrative of these

courses and student advising. Students will undergo a preliminary assessment

relative to technological and design skills. Based on their score, they will be

directed through the ePortfolio process in one of three ways:

ePortfolio Tracks

Track 1 - Minimal to no skills – directed to take a tools course, either

through Digital Media Tools (Skip McFarlane and others), a quarter-long

digital arts courses, or other.

Track 2 - Intermediate Skills – ePortfolio workshop.

Track 3 - Advanced skills – one-on one sessions with the ePortfolio tutors.

•AAD Internship course – students work on portfolio content

•AAD Technology - students work on design elements

•Students in ePortfolio Track 2 take PODS workshops and post ePortfolios on

website.

•ePortfolio tutors provide one-on-one sessions to Track 3 students from AAA and

the interdisciplinary initiative participants, and students post ePortfolios on

website.

Spring, 08

•ePortfolio Track 2 students take EPortfolio workshops, Second Session

•AAD Multimedia course – Students develop and post ePortfolios

•ePortfolio tutors provide one-on-one sessions to Track 3 students from AAA and the

interdisciplinary initiative participants, and students post ePortfolios on website.

•Ad Hoc ePortfolio group presents findings from interdisciplinary ePortfolio initiative


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 INTERDISCIPLINARY EPORTFOLIO INITIATIVE

ePortfolios has established a formal partnership with the School of Journalism and CATE

(College of Education) to pilot an interdisciplinary ePortfolio project during 07/08. (See

accompanying materials.)

AAA PODS/EPORTFOLIO WORKSHOPS

Our multi-year assessment revealed that the best system for delivering ePortfolios

throughout AAA outside of the course structure is going to be through AAA-level self-

support courses that guide students through the tools development process, and in

posting their ePortfolios. Consequently, we support PODS’ request to the Dean’s office

for an increase in the PODS staff budget to include administrative of these courses and

student advising. Students will undergo a preliminary assessment relative to

technological and design skills. Based on their score, they will be directed through the

ePortfolio process in one of three ways:

1. Minimal to no skills – directed to take a tools course, either through Digital

Media Tools, a quarter-long digital arts courses, or other.

2. Intermediate skills – ePortfolio workshop.

3. Advanced skills – one-on one sessions with the ePortfolio tutors.

Students will work with the PODS office to identify the appropriate sequence. The

ePortfolio workshop requires students to have taken the AAA Portfolio content

development course prior to enrolling in the ePortfolio course. The content course

assists students to have their professional documents ready for digitization. Our two-

year assessment has demonstrated that the ePortfolio tutors are an essential

component of the ePortfolio system. The tutors are available for one-on-one sessions

during lab hours and by appointment. Currently, the tutors have worked with Eric

Schiff’s course throughout the year, providing in-class and out-of-class support. This has

allowed Eric to move deeper and further in design and web development tools. The

success of this year’s class demonstrates the importance of this support. We have seen

a 30% increase in the success of students completing their ePortfolios from last year,

and a 70% increase from the year before the implementation of the project.

Additionally, the caliber of the ePortfolios have increased each year, with this year

demonstrating the best work so far.

TUTOR AND LAB ASSESSMENT SUMMARY

Throughout the 2006-2007 school year, the ePortfolio program has provided AAD and

other AAA students working on developing ePortfolios with open lab hours. Colin

Williams, the ePortfolio Tutor, has been a key part of the ePortfolio team since the

beginning of the ePortfolio project in 2005. During lab hours, students are able to work

on their ePortfolios and access the ePortfolio tutor for in-depth, individual sessions on

ePortfolio development, design, technical tools, and uploading ePortfolios onto a web

server.


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 ePortfolio holds open lab hours for 15 hours per week during the academic year. Over

the course of this year, AAA students received individual tutoring during 69 Lab Tutor

Sessions for a total of 138.5 hours. The Lab Tutor Sessions lasted approximately two hours

each.

TUTOR AND LAB ASSESSMENT FIGURES

The ePortfolio tutors were evaluated by students in their ability to provide clear direction

and their technical proficiency. The ePortfolio lab was evaluated by students regarding:

hours and availability and workstation quality. Both the tutors and the lab were given

the highest rating by most of the students in the 45 session assessments completed.

LAB HOUR TOPICS

In order for students to create ePortfolios, they must first have a strong foundation in

design, design tools, and web hierarchy and architecture. In the AAD Technology

courses and the ePortfolio PODS workshops, students learn the basics of design and

design tools like Adobe’s Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Theses design tools

enable students to prepare ePortfolio designs, images, and documents. Students used 7

lab hours in web hierarchy and architecture; 21 lab hours in design; 25 lab hours in

learning design tools; and 31.75 lab hours creating, uploading, and updating their

ePortfolios. However, students used the majority of the Lab Tutor Sessions to learn and

practice web development software tools such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and

Fireworks for a total of 43.5 hours.


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 LAB HOUR FIGURE

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

AAA PODS & Kassia Dellabough

The AAA Office of Professional Outreach and Development for Students works directly

with students to clarify career goals and develop appropriate job and internship tools.

The portfolio is central to career development and job search. The PODS office serves

as a career hub in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts and as such provides

information and direction to students creating ePortfolios and other job search tools.

This year in collaboration with the ePortfolio Project, the PODS office offered a Portfolio

development class winter term that fed into the ePortfolio class spring term. PODS also

facilitated a presentation by the ePortfolio Project Director to the AAA Board of Visitirs

during the Career Symposium and worked with several students who were creating

ePortfolios independently. As member of the campus-wide ePortfolio ad-hock

committee, the PODS office strongly supports the continued development and

expansion of ePortfolio development for all students in AAA and advocates for

resources to expand the ePortfolio in AAA.


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 Eric Schiff, Arts & Administration Adjunct Faculty

My involvement focused on three primary areas: Continued development and

refinement of the AAD ePortfolio model and standards; Pursuing implementation of

storage/hosting capability, and creating a new delivery mechanism/website for

student and faculty, public and private access to ePortfolio sites, instructional resources,

and community, professional, and employer networks and resources; Broadening the

scope and reach of the ePortfolio project to include other AAA programs and

departments.

Ongoing development and refinement of the AAD ePortfolio model and standards

involved regular discussion and weekly meetings with my colleagues on the ePortfolio

project team, and has been beneficial to moving AAD’s ePortfolio effort (requirement)

forward successfully. This is evidenced by the successful completion and quality of

ePortfolios by AAD students this Spring term. Standards still need to be formalized, and

will be in place by the Fall.

One aspect of my work this year that has proven both rewarding professionally and a

benefit to the ePortfolio project, has been my involvement with the ad hoc campus

ePortfolio committee. The group meets monthly and has provided a forum and

opportunities to explore and investigate leading edge development and application of

ePortfolio programs across the UO campus and nation wide. This colleageal sharing

and support helped validate our efforts, and opened opportunities for collaboration

with other departments and schools to develop best practices for emerging ePortfolio

application. I am hoping that one such opportunity will enable AAD to move forward

with our goal of creating a new website, hosting, and resource network facility for our

students, and eventually all AAA students. This was the one area of the ePortfolio

project where we fell short this year – lesson’s learned.

I was also involved in presenting AAD/AAA ePortfolio project development and intents

to the Portland Board of Visitors this spring. The presentation was very well received with

feedback fully supportive of pursuing additional development and support of ePortfolio

initiatives.

Finally, I designed and taught a 3 session, 1 credit ePortfolio workshop for AAA students

this spring. While the sign up for the course was small – due to scheduling conflicts which

are to be resolved next year, it was well received and student outcomes met a high

degree of success with all students completing and posting their ePorfolios.

I am looking forward to continued involvement possibly this summer, definitely next

year, in advancing the ePortfolio initiative in AAA, and with other campus

collaborators/partners. Activities will most likely include research, meetings, and design,

development, and implementation of ePortfolio tools and resources. Along with

teaching ePortfolio design in my Spring term AAD course, I am also planning on

teaching 2 ePortfolio workshops, one Winter and one Spring term.


ePortfolio Year Two 2006-2007 Reed Davaz McGowan, Arts & Administration Graduate Student During the Spring term of 2007, I joined the ePortfolio team as the project’s GTF. Over the course

of the term, I created presentation materials for ePortfolio, worked on assessment and

evaluation, provided Dr. Hager with administrative support, and helped students to post their

ePortfolios. As an AAD graduate student, I had firsthand knowledge of the ePortfolio project

during its first year. In 2006, I worked closely with Eric Schiff and Colin Williams to create my own

ePortfolio. With the tools that I learned through the ePortfolio coursework, I have continued to

design websites for several friends and working artists. I consider the process of developing,

designing, and implementing my ePortfolio to be one of the most practical pieces of my

education.

IMAGES FROM 2007 EPORTFOLIOS

Year 2 Final Report

Education

year two4 summary of

eportfolio year two2006

end of year

goals6 year

endof year

multiyear project

eportfolio applications

project evaluation